Aram G. Garabedian

91, a champion for all, passed away peacefully on October 30, 2026, at St. Elizabeth Home, after an eight-year battle with Dementia - Alzheimer's disease. He was the husband and best friend of 69 years to the love of his life, Jane (Bliss) Garabedian. 

His mother taught him to help everybody he could, and he spent his life doing exactly that. Late in life, he said the two things that had always driven him were helping the common good and making his mom proud. 

Born in Providence, to the late Harootiun and Aroosiag (Nalbandian) Garabedian, Aram was born on Whipple Street which was renamed “Aram G. Garabedian Way” in honor of his contributions to the Armenian People. He graduated from Hope High School, where he excelled in football and worked at various jobs, always trying to get ahead. When he lost an athletic scholarship to the University of Maine, he hitchhiked there with $35 in his pocket and convinced the registrar to let him pay tuition month by month. He played football all four years, served in ROTC, worked various jobs and went without books he couldn't afford, and proudly graduated in 1957 without a cent of debt. 

He then served two years in the U.S. Army, rising to first lieutenant, followed by six years in the active reserves. Back in Rhode Island, he married his high school sweetheart, Jane Bliss, and settled in Cranston, where they raised two children. 

A champion in business, Aram started in pharmaceutical sales, a relentless worker who covered miles of territory. As the first employee of NBTY (Nature’s Bounty), he rose to senior vice president of sales and marketing and helped build it into a $3.75 billion publicly traded company. When his father-in-law, Lloyd Bliss, asked him to lead the family's commercial real estate business, he retired to NBTY's board of directors and became president of Bliss Properties and co-managing partner of the Warwick Mall (“mall”), and oversaw the operations of many other commercial properties. 

He believed a mall should belong to its community. In 1976 while under renovation, Aram arranged for the State House’s Independent Man to be displayed at the Warwick Mall for all Rhode Islanders to enjoy. Later he had a replica built which today sits outside of the Carousel Food Court. In 1992, under his persuasion, the Carousel was added to the mall which the community still enjoys to this day! When the Great Floods of 2010 put the mall under two feet of water and caused millions of dollars in damage, he reassured employees who had lost their jobs and neighbors who had lost their homes with a message to the whole community: “Count on Us!! We will rebuild!” Just 144 days later, under his leadership, the mall reopened. 

A champion for the people. Aram's public career began in 1966 with his election to the Cranston School Committee. 

He went on to serve in the RI House of Representatives and the RI Senate, and as President of the Cranston City Council from 2005 to 2008. He was elected as a Republican, a Democrat, Independent and Non-Partisan, evidence that his loyalty was to people, not parties. 

Children came first. He led the effort for a statewide law requiring kindergarten at a uniform starting age, secured the financing for the Cranston Vocational School, fought to build the new junior high, now Western Hills, and sponsored the law requiring schools to offer low-fat milk. He stood up for tenants with a law requiring landlords to pay interest on security deposits, and for nursing home residents by proposing the Nursing Home Coordinating Council and sponsoring the Patient's Accountability Act. These are just a few of his accomplishments as an elected official. 

Aram, a proud first-generation Armenian American, was convinced that knowledge is power. In 2000 he championed the Genocide and Human Rights Education Law, which requires Rhode Island students to learn about the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Irish Famine, and other human rights atrocities. It was the first law of its kind in the nation. 

An Army veteran himself, he joined General Reginald Centracchio to revive the stalled World War II Veterans Monument in Providence and helped raise the additional $600,000 needed and within one year the monument was complete. 

Aram was a philanthropist who championed many nonprofits. He served on the boards of the Rhode Island Red Cross, Meals on Wheels, and the Rhode Island Holocaust Education Center, and supported the Alzheimer's Association of Rhode Island, the International Institute, Dorcas Place, Harmony Hill School, the Genesis Center, the Western Cranston Little League, and many more. The son of a mother who escaped the Armenian Genocide of 1915, Aram was deeply active in Rhode Island's Armenian community, supporting many causes and churches, and was a proud member and Trustee of the Armenian Assembly of America and the Armenian National Committee of America. He felt deeply for immigrants who had survived adversity and needed a hand. 

Aram was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame and received the 2017 National Association of Secretaries of State Medallion Award for civic duty. 

To countless Patriots fans, Aram was the man in the red suit. He was ultimate superfan who led the cheering in Section 133 at every home game from 1986 to 2019. He attended his last Patriots game while attending his 33rd Superbowl in Atlanta in 2019, when his beloved Patriots defeated the LA Rams 13-3. 

He was a motivator and a forever optimist, and he shared his philosophy of life with everyone. His first motto: most problems are really SRAs, Situations Requiring an Adjustment. pause, re-assess, talk it out and tackle the situation at hand! His second motto: In life, you have to be like Jello, willing to jiggle a little to the left and a little to the right. Compromise, empathy, and fairness were how he lived every day. 

Aram was a champion for all. Rhode Island could always count on him, and he will be missed greatly by all who knew him! 

Besides his wife, Jane, Aram leaves his daughter, Lisa Garabedian Regan, and her husband, Chris; his son, Gary Bliss Garabedian, and his wife, Mary, his grandchildren, Diandra (Antonio), Ross, Casey and Conor Aram; his great-grandchildren, Teddy, Remy, and Lilly; and his sister, Mary (Maro) Dionisopoulos, as well as many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister Helen MIkitarian and his brother Charlie (Hompo) Garabedian.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend his Funeral Service on Thursday, November 5th at 11:00 a.m. in Sts. Vartanantz Armenian Apostolic Church, 402 Broadway, Providence, RI. VISITING HOURS will be Wednesday, November 4th from 4:00 - 7:00 p.m. in the NARDOLILLO FUNERAL HOME & Crematory, 1278 Park Ave., Cranston, RI. Burial will be private.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Alzheimer's Association of Rhode Island, 245 Waterman Street, Suite 306, Providence, RI 02906, or the Ani Chapter of the Armenian Relief Society, 7 Armenia Street, Providence, RI 02909.